Highlights
- Oda clarifies that One Piece movies are non-canon, with Strong World being an exception due to his involvement.
- Shiki and his Devil Fruit from Strong World are considered canon, but the movie itself isn't part of the main storyline.
- Some One Piece movies contain canon elements, but they are not considered part of the main story's canon.
One Piece volume 109 SBS has revealed quite a lot of exciting things to the fans, and while most of the questions have been somewhat related to the events covered in the manga over the course of the last few chapters, some questions took Oda as far as decades ago, answering very important things that certain fans need to understand As the story approaches its end. Over the years, it has been heavily debated among the fans whether the One Piece movies are canon or not.
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The Bonney pirates get their backstory revealed by Eiichiro Oda. Is it possible that Bonney will get her crew back in One Piece?
Of course, there are many canon characters that appear in One Piece movies, but, fans have always maintained that the movies themselves are not canon at all. Now, a fan has asked Oda this very question, and he has weighed in on it and made clear what he thinks about the canonicity of the One Piece movies, telling the fans how they should interpret them.
The One Piece Films With Oda's Involvement
There Are Some One Piece Films With Oda's Involvement
The very first thing that fans need to keep in mind is that Oda is certainly involved in the movies in some shape or form. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that the movies themselves are canon. For instance, Oda always provides character designs for all movies and also approves certain scene decisions, while giving his input. This is what happens usually. However, One Piece Strong World was somewhat different. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of One Piece, Oda was asked to write the script of the movie himself. That is why Oda wrote Strong World personally, and that sets this movie apart from the vast majority. The events of the movie are, of course, set between the Thriller Bark arc and the Sabaody Archipelago arc, and it essentially sees the Flying Pirate, Shiki, emerge as an antagonist, kidnapping Nami, which requires Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates to go and save her.
Along with this movie, fans also got One Piece episode 0, which covered the events leading up to Shiki's return. Curiously enough, the events of One Piece episode 0 are completely canon as they showcase how Shiki made himself into a great pirate long ago, and at the same time, how he ended up escaping from the Great Prison, Impel Down. Shiki became the first person to ever break out of the prison, that is until Luffy caused a mass breakout shortly before the Paramount War began.
Due to Oda's heavy involvement, a lot of the fans have argued that One Piece Strong World is a canon movie. One can see why fans would think that, however, now, Oda has come out and clarified what he thinks about Strong World, and, with it, all the other One Piece movies as well.
Oda Tackles The Canonicity Of Strong World
Oda Clarifies That Strong World Is Not A Canon One Piece Movie
Strong World specifically focuses I want the characters of Luffy and Nami. In fact, Oda has previously mentioned that he had written a completely different story for the Strong World surrounding Nami's birth, which he later scrapped for one reason or another. Still, the movie had Nami feature heavily as the main heroine, and the Straw Hat Pirates came to her rescue when she was kidnapped by Shiki. The Strong World movie also served as a fantastic battle between Luffy and the Flying Pirate, who was once a rival to the Pirates King, Gol D. Roger. Speaking of the canonicity of the movie, here is what Oda had to say:
Question: Golden Lion Shiki has finally appeared in the main storyline, so does this mean that the events of the movie - STRONG WORLD have been officially incorporated into the timeline of the main story?
Oda: Well, even though I could try and find a way to make most movies canon, if I did readers would be obligated to watch the movies to get the full story, so I don't like to consider them part of canon. However, with STRONG WORLD, I was the one who came up with the story, and I ended up using "Shiki," a character I originally intended to be part of the main story, as a character for the movie.
However, if it wasn't for this being a movie, I would've never had Shiki eat the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi (Float Float Fruit). I had a rule in my mind to not include characters that could fly or float freely in the sky (it's a pirate manga after all), so I would've never wanted to use such a power. I let it slide since it was for a movie, but then I still incorporated him in canon and so the fruit is now canon lol. It's a weird case of re-importing stuff back into canon.
Essentially, Oda completely clarifies the fact that Strong World, despite having been written by him, is not canon at all. The only things that are canon from Strong World, as clearly implied by Oda, are the Flying Pirate, Shiki, and the Devil Fruit that he possesses, which is, the Paramecia type Fuwa Fuwa no Mi.
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In fact, Oda did not even want to make this Devil Fruit canon in the first place, but it is a weird situation where he ended up having this fruit used in the movies, and then it ended up being canon in the anime as well.
Is Any One Piece Movie Canon?
No One Piece Movie Is Canon So Far
As clarified by Oda himself, all the One Piece movies, at least so far, are non-canon. None of them can be considered canon in any way or form, and they are completely different stories that are there for the fans to enjoy, regardless of thinking too deeply about the plot. However, that doesn't mean that they are not canon characters in the One Piece movies. For instance, Shiki, the Flying Pirate, is canon and Oda wanted to use him for his series. However, he ended up using him for a movie instead. Shiki and his Devil Fruit are both canon elements of Strong World. At the same time, One Piece Film Z had Zephyr as the main antagonist, and fans know that this character is also canon. Zephyr served as an Admiral of the Marines once, but he certainly did not fight Luffy or even meet him, as the events of One Piece Film Z are not canon.
In the exact same manner, One Piece Film Redintroduced fans to Uta, Shanks's adoptive daughter. It also revealed some canon elements pertaining to the past of the pirate Red-haired Shanks, and at the same time, the birth of Uta as well. Similarly, One Piece Stampede gave fans a glimpse of events that had not even taken place in the manga, such as the true name of the Final Island being Laugh Tale. It also gave fans a glimpse of Roger and Rayleigh's dialogue about who would go on to find the One Piece before it even appeared in the manga. Nearly all the One Piece movies have certain canon elements in them, but that does not mean that they are canon.
One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1120, is set to be July 14, 2024.
